Albalat dels Sorells Energy Community – simple, inclusive and affordable

Description

Albalat dels Sorells is part of the evolution towards a new decentralised, fair, efficient and sustainable system of local energy production. It is the first Local Energy Community (LEC) in Valencia, and one of the first in Spain. It represents a step towards a model that contributes to fighting climate change and the goals of the 2030 Agenda, while providing clear benefits for end users and their community.

Context

The CEL of Albalat is promoted by Sapiens Energía – a renewable energy community constituted as a cooperative -, AlternaCoop – a cooperative that works to promote shared mobility – and the City Council of Valencia, with financial support from the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (Ivace) dependent on the Department of Sustainable Economy and Productive Sectors of the Generalitat Valenciana, through the ‘Energy Communities Program of the Valencian Community of the year 2020’.

This project is part of the ‘Albalat 0.0 Strategy’, which seeks to consolidate the town as a benchmark in sustainability in the Valencian Community, eliminating emissions into the atmosphere. Specifically, a reduction of 76.7 tons of CO2 is expected – equivalent to planting 1,150 trees in 10 years.

Actors involved

• Sapiens Energía
• AlternaCoop
• Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (Ivace)

Results

The Albalat dels Sorells energy community already has its first solar roof, the first of a CEL in the Valencian Community, on the roof of AlternaCoop. It has 68.85 kilowatts of power and 23 kWh of storage, with a centralised lithium battery. It allows the supply of renewable energy to more than 80 homes, various companies and public buildings. It produces 100,050 kWh/year of renewable energy. Part of the energy generated is going to families in the municipality in a situation of energy poverty.

From the household perspective, solar panels have a life of more than 25 years and generate savings for households and organisations that join the community from day one – with an average of around 20% -30% of the annual energy bill. In addition, it is a boosting factor for economic activity and employment in the municipality. The average saving per household per year is around €130.

Why it works

CEL members become producers, managers and users of energy from renewable sources, through their own self-consumption installations, which in turn generate positive impacts on their social and environmental surroundings.

Albalat dels Sorells joins the evolution towards a new decentralised, fair, efficient and sustainable local energy system, with the first CEL in the Valencian Community, one of the first in Spain, thus taking the step towards a model that contributes to the fight against climate change and the objectives of Agenda 2030, while being more profitable for its users.

The main piece of advice the members of ‘Albalat dels Sorells’ would give to those seeking to follow in their footsteps would be “contact people who are already part of an energy community, try to make the most of the resources you have, and make yourselves known so that energy communities continue to attract more participants”.

Scale

local